Late song legends honored

No.08 - 7/2007
13 July 2007
Culture
 
Late song legends honored
 
A memorial was inaugurated at Piangluang, the Shan village on the Chiangmai-Burma border yesterday to honor two deceased Shan singers of the legendary Zerng-Liao (Freedom Way) band.
 
About a hundred fans gathered yesterday on the hill overlooking the border, where lie the remains of Sai Mu, who died in 1994 at the age of 35, and Hsanloi, who died in 1999 at the age of 39, to listen to the band's co-founders Saengchuen (song-writer and singer) Ta Oo (singer) and Khun Serh (drummer) recounting their reminiscences of their two late associates and friends.
 

^{Sai Mu and Hsanloi}

"When I first heard his song Ai Hsu Ya Gawn Pyawng (Opium smoker), I thought here's a genius," recalled Saengchuen. Sai Mu wrote more than two hundred songs that are still sung today and he commanded a large following during his short lifetime.
 
Hsanloi who shot to fame with Hsanloi Zed May (Hsanloi of seven wives) liked to write songs about current hot issues. "He came to us in 1987 with a piece of paper torn from an empty cigarette packet," recalled Ta Oo. "It was Ne Win Zon Kheb Zoi (Ne Win robs), about the demonetization (by Gen Ne Win of 25-, 35- and 75 kyat banknotes without compensation which first ignited the whole country to go on a rampage). Saengchuen said, 'it's good', and used it as a title for our next album. It became an instant hit."
 

At the ceremony, Sai Mu's widow Nang Kham Piang was also presented by his former associates with a plot of land on which to build her home.
 
Freedom Way was formed in 1984. The band, except for the first few years, had never given any concerts, contenting itself with the output of albums of songs written and recorded by its members.